Hacksar

You may be paranoid about somebody else using your computer, and so to combat that, you just Switch Users and leave your computer on the log in screen. Also, you may have it set to go back to the log in screen once the screen saver kicks in, just for those times you forgot to log out. While this may be useful most of the times, it may not always cut it. What if you’re running some sort of intense process (like video encoding/conversion, for example) that you don’t necessarily need to interact with, but you just need to see how far it has progressed? Logging in every time you want to check that is a waste of time and energy, as, since the computer is busy with whatever it is processing, the login will be extremely slow and laggy.

On the other hand, if you simply don’t like the interface of the Window’s login screen (for some reason), or simply can’t access it easily, then this solution might be for you. My computer suddenly decided to stop letting me log out or even shut down the computer through regular means, so I had to resort to finding my own solutions. (It just freezes on the “Windows is shutting down” blue screen, if anybody has any idea why it may do these, leave a comment.)

I came across another AutoHotKey script that locks your computer with a password after either a certain amount of time, or if you give it the lock command. By lock, what it does is it places a white transparent cover over your whole screen and has an “Input Password” box in the middle. The AutoHotKey source is at the bottom of this post. For more information about how to use AutoHotKey, read the previous post on How to Control iTunes Remotely. Keep reading for the guide on how to use this computer locking script.

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You may be an avid fan of iTunes, using it for its MP3 indexing and playback capabilities. However, it can become cumbersome to have to switch back to the window just to skip a song in shuffle playback mode. I too have had this problem, and thankfully, came across an ingenious solution after hours of scouring the internet.

Allow me to introduce you to AutoHotKey. AutoHotKey (AHK) is a small program that let’s you create your own programs, macros, and scripts. You can record and send keystrokes, and even tap into the Windows API with AHK. (This means you can program things easily, as you will in this guide.) Keep reading for the full guide on how to get AHK set up, and get the iTunes Controller script installed.

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